


Day 11: Family

by BluePlanetTrash



Series: Merry Langstmas (12 Days of Christmas) [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Merry Langstmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 19:23:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13394571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: The team would be able to make it back for Christmas and decided that it would be a great idea for all of their families to meet as well. They knew that Lance didn't have a family to go back to and tried not to seem too excited in case they hurt him. It's only after the party that they realize how hurt Lance always is.





	Day 11: Family

It would be their first Christmas home after making it back from space. Everyone was excited to spend Christmas with their families and were already discussing the plans they had made in their group chat. Unsurprisingly and unfortunately, there was a long silence from their blue paladin. Shiro was almost afraid to ask, but he wanted Lance to be included over the holiday if he had nobody to spend it with.

 **Space Padré:**  Lance, do you have any plans for the holidays?

 **Blue Boi:**  No, I don’t think so. I’ll probably just spend it in the dorm.

 **Uptown Hunk:**  What? Bro. No. You can come to my house, my parents would love to have you.

 **Baby Meme:**  Mine too!

 **County Fair** : Dad would probably want to meet you.

 **Space Padré** : Mom and Grandpa would be glad to have you too. You could come to any of our places for the holidays!

 **Blue Boi** : You guys really don’t have to. I’m really not that fun…

 **County Fair:**  Shut your whore mouth, Lance.

 **Uptown Hunk:**  Yeah Lance, you’re plenty fun! You deserve to have a fun holiday!

 **Baby Meme:**  You know what we could do. We could have one big Christmas gathering with all of our families.

 **Uptown Hunk:**  That’s a great idea! Then they could all meet each other too!

After that, they rushed to coordinate with each other and their families. They made sure to include Lance in all of their plans, they didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. Whenever they would meet up, he would give them a small smile but wouldn’t say very much as they planned around their schedules. It worried them but they understood. They wouldn’t want to spend their Christmases without their families after all. Even when they spent time together without planning, he would sit quietly out of their circle, minding his own business or talking lowly to whoever was sitting beside him.

On the night of their party, however, he was all smiles. He introduced himself to every single member of their families and gave the parents their own little gift from him. Of course, they were all warned beforehand to not ask about his family since they didn’t want to bring up any painful memories for him.

It seemed like he was having a grand time while he danced with Matt in the middle of the room, surrounded by the family’s various cousins. They laughed as Matt spun him around and dipped him low to the ground. As the music came to an end they dramatically parted from each other to go their separate ways. Lance walked over to them, throwing an arm around Shiro and Hunk.

“Great party guys!” He commented.

“Yeah, it came out much better than I was expecting honestly,” Shiro said looking around the room.

“Right? Who knew that Pidge had so many cousins!” Hunk laughed. It was true, they weren’t expecting the Holts to walk in with a train of people following behind them.

“They’re Italian,”

“That is true,”

“What are you guys doing?” Keith’s voice drawled from behind them. They turned and saw him standing, holding a cup, but what really drew their attention was the sweater he was wearing.

“What the fuck,” Hunk breathed out before he cupped a hand over his mouth and wheezed loudly. His sweater was a knit bright red sweater that had “Merry Christmas Y’all” stitched on it with two long horns positioned under the lettering. Shiro and Lance clutched to each other as they stared at the sweater, laughter pouring out of their mouths. Keith’s face lit up with a blush and his cup crumpled in his hand. Thankfully it looked like he finished his drink because nothing poured over the side.

“Shut the hell up,” he growled, glaring at the three of them. They vainly tried to stop laughing, Lance coughing and choking with the effort. They stood straight as they stared at Keith’s face, not daring to glance lower.

“It’s a tradition,” he said before they could ask any questions. He gestured with his head and they looked over to where Keith’s dad was talking with Colleen. He was turned just enough that they could see the words “Happy Yall-idays,” stretched across his chest.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Hunk said doubling over.

Even as Ken came over to them to greet them, they kept a straight face. It was only after he turned his back again that they burst into laughter, this time dragging Keith along with them.

It wasn’t long before Pidge joined them as well. As much as she missed spending the holidays with her family, it was a bit overwhelming to suddenly go from seven people to over twenty in a small space.

As their night drew to a close, with aunts and uncles carrying their younger cousins out; they noticed that Lance was fidgeting slightly and sneaking glances towards them.

“Whats wrong Lance?” Hunk asked putting his hand on his shoulder. He nervously looked at all of them.

“I have something I do every Christmas and I wondering if maybe, you don’t have to, but if you don’t have anything to do if you guys would come with me,” he offered quickly looking down at the ground.

“Of course we’ll go with you Lance,” Shiro said gently, reaching forward to ruffle his hair.

“Really?” He asked. Shiro was confused to see how glassy his eyes were. Whatever it was, it really meant a lot to Lance and they wanted to be there for him.

“Yeah man!” Hunk said slapping him on the back with a smile. Lance rubbed his arm, smiling up at them bashfully.

They helped send off their families and load up their cars before waving as they drove away. Then they were piling into Lance’s car with the promise that he would drive them back after they were finished. They watched from the windows as houses strung with Christmas lights passed by them.

“Are you going to tell us where we’re going?” Keith asked, breaking the comfortable silence that permeated the car.

“Nah, I’ll tell you when we get there,” Lance said after a moment.

“Aww, why?” Pidge asked, poking the back of Lance’s head through the gap in the headrest.

“One, because it’s fun and gets on Keith’s nerves; two, I don’t know if you’d still want to go with me if I told you,” he admitted in a quiet voice. They sat, unsure of their decision to go with him. But Lance would never try to hurt them. Right?

“It’s nothing dangerous,” he said as if he heard their thoughts.

“What then? Why don’t you think we would want to go?” Keith asked crossing his arms.

“I don’t know, I guess it’s just kind of a weird thing to bring you to,” he said, his hands were tense on the steering wheel.

“Well whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll enjoy ourselves,” Shiro tried to comfort him. Lance looked sideways at him for a second before his eyes slid back to the road.

“I don’t think so Shiro, I’ll probably be snotting on one of you by the end of it,” he said. They glanced at each other in confusion but decided not to ask questions. They would soon find out what was happening anyway.

“We’re here,” Lance said, his voice suddenly becoming solemn. He flicked on his left blinker and turned into a long driveway. As they climbed up the hill, they could see tombstones on either side of them. Shiro looked over at Lance and stared. In the short time between the party and now, it seemed like Lance had aged years. It was easy to tell why Lance had taken them there now. He pulled the car slowly to the side of the drive and stopped the car, breathing out slowly before opening his door, prompting the rest of them to do the same.

“I always visit my parent’s graves during Christmas, it makes them feel closer to me,” he explained as he pulled a bag out of his trunk and started down the cobblestone pathway between the headstones.

It wasn’t long before they stopped and Lance led them down a row. They huddled together as Lance got to work, dusting the afternoon’s snow off of the headstones revealing his family’s names. They glanced at each other uncertainly. They had no idea how they could help in this situation. It seemed that they were there for emotional support, but Lance had been visiting by himself for years prior to that. If he needed them though, they would be there for him in a heartbeat.

Shiro was about to open his mouth and say just that to the small group when he was cut off by a gentle glow coming from Lance’s direction. They looked over and gasped quietly at the sight.

He had slightly cleaned off the tombstones and in the time that they were thinking to themselves, he had strung small lights across the tombstones. From the glow, they could see his silhouette lightly shaking as he looked down the row.

“These are my parents,” he said quietly not looking back at them. They stepped forward to stand at Lance’s sides. They could see the engraved Rosa McClain and Cortez McClain on the stones.

“My siblings passed away while we were still in Cuba and were buried there but my parents died here, I wanted to get them back to Cuba to joined the rest of the family but it didn’t happen,”

“I’m so sorry Lance,” Shiro said grabbing Lance’s hand in support. Lance gave him a sad smile in return but clutched his hand tighter.

“It’s okay, I’ve had time to heal,” he said. He shook his head slightly. “I don’t think it will ever be completely okay but I can try,”

“Mamá, Papá,” he said looking back to the headstones with a grin. “This is my team,”

“Pidge is our amazing green paladin, she’s the smartest out of all of us even though she is the youngest. She’s so strong. Even though her family was lost in space, she never left us. She's like a little sister to me, just like Sophia was. I’ll always look out for her, just like she will for me,” he said softly. Pidge looked up at him in awe. She knew that Lance was like a brother to her but she was always afraid that telling him that would upset him since he lost his family.

“Hunk is my best friend in the entire world, he would give up anything in order to make somebody happy. He’s helped me so much, he helped me feel happy again after everything that happened and I can never thank him enough for that. I would do anything to make sure that he’s happy, he’s my brother,” his voice was a bit warped this time. Hunk clutched his other hand with a sniffle. His eyes looked down at Lance, but Lance’s stayed firmly planted on his parent’s tombstones.

“Keith may be hot-headed and unpredictable, and we might not get along all the time but he’s one of the most loyal and selfless people I’ve ever met in my life. He looks out of everyone and he cares so much about helping people, even though he has so much about himself that he has to deal with. I am proud to call him my brother, no matter how he sees it,” Keith stared over at him in shocked silence. He had no idea that Lance felt that way.

“You know who Shiro is. I never stopped talking about him while you were alive; he’s my hero but there’s so much that I learned about him. He always puts us before himself even when he’s really hurting. He’s not as serious as I thought and is actually a big goof. I’m honoured to have met him and to call him my brother,” his chin sank to his chest as his eyes squeezed closed. Shiro bit his lip and clutched tighter to Lance’s hand. He knew how much this would be hurting Lance but refused to interrupt him.

It took a moment but Lance brought his gaze back up to look at his parents. By then, there were visible tear marks down his cheeks and he was gasping back small sobs.

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I found a family that will take care of me and I can take care of and I love them so much,” he choked bringing a fist up to wipe away the quickly falling tears. The rest of them swallowed back their tears, trying to be strong for the blue paladin.

“I love you guys so so much,” he cried, dropping to his knees, his hands still grasping tightly to Shiro and Hunk. They fell beside him and quickly wrapped their arms around him as he broke down. Keith and Pidge squeezed in the gaps and attached themselves to him as well.

They kneeled on the cold hard dirt as Lance fell apart, quietly giving words of comfort to him. One of the most painful things in life is losing someone held dear to you. Although a loved one can never be replaced, finding the people that are special to you can help fill the gap.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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